Innovation Day: a factory of ideas at the service of innovation
On July 14, 2022, the 11 winning projects of the 16th edition of the Innovation Award were announced.
Main categories and award-winning projects
ORIGAMI, an innovative design for the helicopters’ winglets
Specifically conceived for helicopter tailplane aerodynamic tips, it improves performance and stability at both high and low speeds.
CATEGORY: Product
Project title: An Innovative Helicopter Tailplane Design: the “ORIGAMI” concept
BUSINESS Area: Helicopters
Description
The ORIGAMI concept is an innovative design of the helicopter tailplane aerodynamic tips and its name has been inspired by their 3D folded shape. It is aimed to improve both high and low speed helicopter performance and has been conceived as a retrofit kit aimed to replace the conventional tips while preserving the tailplane main body. After the integrated design phase and the flight test verification, the ORIGAMI design has become part of the AW169 configuration and has received EASA certification. It is also protected by an international patent application.
INNOVATION
The driver was the improvement of the high speed stability of the aircraft with care also to the low speed regime due to the interactional phenomena. The design focus was onto the main player, the horizontal tailplane, and in particular on its outermost sections: the winglets. Their design is a cluster of optimized aerodynamic features allowing to move towards an efficient aerodynamic design and an easier retrofit solution. This is a key design point for the concept applicability also on other helicopter variants avoiding a complete tailplane redesign.
TEAM
Stefano Melone (Leader) – Aerospace engineer – Cascina Costa (VA)
Luca Medici – Aerospace engineer – Cascina Costa (VA)
Riccardo Bianco Mengotti – Aerospace engineer – Cascina Costa (VA)
Alessandro Scandroglio – Aerospace engineer – Cascina Costa (VA)
Gabriele Giuseppe Campanardi – Aerospace engineer – Cascina Costa (VA)
James Simon Barber – Aerospace engineer – Cascina Costa (VA)
Pierantonio Andreoli – Aerospace engineer – Cascina Costa
Marco Bordin – Bresso Wind Tunnel operator
Federico Del Grande – Aerospace engineer – Cascina Costa (VA)
Stefano D’Agosto – Aerospace engineer – Cascina Costa (VA)
Raffaele Marmo – Aerospace engineer – Cascina Costa (VA)
Where did the project take place?
The project was developed at Leonardo Helicopters’ Cascina Costa di Samarate (VA) site (2,400 employees, 1339* suppliers and 16,918* people in related industries). The production site is active in gearbox development and production, avionic Integration and experimental flight line.
How do you think your project can benefit Leonardo’s innovation ecosystem (both within and outside the company)?
The ORIGAMI design has been made possible thanks to the LHD ASI dept. initiative but also thanks to the strong support from other LHD depts. and external suppliers (Dallara Compositi). This demonstrates that, if strong synergies and investments are put in place in design and experimentation, challenging goals can be made possible.
*figure calculated on regional basis
Used to detect air threats, it supports military operators in scenarios involving conventional aircraft and mini and micro unmanned tactical systems
CATEGORY: Technology
PROJECT NAME: Radar Processor on Chip
BUSINESS AREA: Electronics
DESCRIPTION
Development of the TMMR (Tactical Multi Mission Radar) sensor, an AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) band C radar for the detection, classification and tracking of small, fast-moving threats in the air. This fully digitised radar will provide integrated support for the armed forces, guaranteeing complete, immediate situational awareness in scenarios dotted with land and air systems, such as mini and micro unmanned tactical systems.
INNOVATION
The TMMR is easily transportable and may be used in rapidly evolving situations, as it weighs less than 50 kg, is small in size and employs state-of-the-art technology consuming very little energy. These features and its “all-in-one” design offer operators the ideal combination of high performance and ease of use. The key difference lies in the use of RFSoC technology, permitting allocation of all the features of a radar processing chain to chips, which take radio frequency samples, analyse the signal, extract data, and recognise and classify targets.
TEAM
Francesco Auriemma (leader) - Engineer - Bacoli (Fusaro), Naples
Daniela Tedesco - Software Engineer
Marianna Pizzetti - Software Engineer
Maria Francesca Micanti - Software Engineer
Simone Bartolini - Software Engineer
Gennaro Migliaccio - Software Engineer
Siriana Vannini - Hardware Engineer
Luisa Posani - Software Engineer
Stefano Borra - Software Engineer
Emanuele Leva - Firmware Engineer
Where did the project take place?
The team members have a background in engineering in the Electronics for defence division, and are distributed among numerous sites: Napoli Bacoli/Fusaro and Napoli Giugliano (Naples), Roma Tiburtina (Rome), Abbadia S. Salvatore (SI), Firenze Campi Bisenzio (Florence). The Bacoli/Fusaro site nearNaples (more than 350 employees, 314 suppliers and 8564 people working in related industries) is home to the Electronics division, specialising in the production and integration of advanced radar systems for naval and terrestrial, civil and military applications, including AESA technologies, as well as in testing radar antennas with 4 Field Test Ranges (Near and Far).
How do you think your project can benefit Leonardo’s innovation ecosystem (both within and outside the company)?
The solution can be applied to all band C radars (in the Kronos family), offering the benefits of radar architecture simplification and lower costs, as all the products are on a single board. This approach opens up the way for experimentation with innovative solutions also for other types of sensors.
Designed to engage employees with fun challenges, Sustain-Able is intended to promote knowledge of the environment and cut CO2 emissions
CATEGORY: People
PROJECT NAME: Sustain-Able by Leonardo
BUSINESS AREA: Corporate
DESCRIPTION
Sustain-Able is a platform rewarding sustainable behaviour on the part of employees with a playful form of engagement, offering challenges focusing on the creation of a true corporate community. The trial part of the project took 12 weeks and saw the involvement of about 3,500 employees in the Rome area, with the goal of offering a training programme encouraging awareness of sustainability issues and offering a real perception of how the company can contribute to generating a positive impact on the planet.
INNOVATION
Creation of a web app focusing on issues of sustainability, accessible to all the Leonardo people, with the goal of forming a team and contributing to reducing the company’s carbon footprint. A fun, easy way of educating Leonardo’s people on sustainability and raising their awareness of environmental issues. Leonardo team members completed 1,995 missions and saved about 3,000kg of C02 emissions in the test phase.
TEAM
Carmela Esposito (leader) – Corporate Communication – Roma Monte Grappa
Manuel Fuselli – Electronic Engineer – Roma Monte Grappa
Francesca Ienca – Area Group Data Protection – Roma Monte Grappa
Where did the project take place?
The project was developed at the Leonardo Headquarters at Roma Monte Grappa, in Rome.
How do you think your project can benefit Leonardo’s innovation ecosystem (both within and outside the company)?
There are benefits for Leonardo in terms of employer branding and reputation, as well as involvement of team members. Moreover, the actions are measurable, permitting verification of overall environmental impact (real reduction of CO2 emissions) and development of specific projects in the area when in full-swing operation.
Transversal categories
All the proposals falling into the categories Technology, Product and People, have contributed to an additional prize dedicated to three transversal categories:
In the Digitization category, the MBSE (Model Based System Engineer) project, for the certification of C-27J winglets through a complex simulation without testing, was awarded.
In the Sustainability category, the St Lucia GIC project, the forecasting tool for managing extreme weather events, was awarded.
Finally, in the Promotion of Leonardo’s culture and values category, the Colibrì project, for the manufacture of 3D printed respiratory valves during the 2020 lockdown, was awarded.
Special mentions
For the Product Results category, special mention to the RIM Solution (Multi-Carrier Hybrid Network) project for secure communications for the 2021 World Ski Championships in Cortina.
For the Technological Results category, special mention to the Crop Circle Mitigation project, an algorithm for the mitigation of image defects in videos, known as "crop circles".
For the People category, special mention to the Enable project, the network that promotes the inclusion of employees with disabilities and neurodiversity.
Jury Prize
A jury, made up of a selected group of Leonardo employees, awarded a special prize to the SOFIA (Strategic Operational Framework for Intelligence and Awareness) project, a knowledge sharing platform, available to all company departments, for sharing internally news, documents, and data.
Find more on the Innovation Award
The Innovation Award is an initiative open to all employees worldwide and offers the opportunity to express ideas with a high rate of innovation, across the Group’s business areas, with the aim of improving products, processes, systems, and services.
For over 15 years, this initiative has promoted a process of innovation centered on people, in which everyone, regardless of their hierarchy and role, can contribute in an original and impactful way.
Innovation Award’s numbers
